Torie O'Shea Mysteries Series

In Rett MacPherson's Family Skeletons, as resident genealogist, historian, tour guide, and occasional amateur snoop, Victory "Torie" O'Shea can be found anywhere in the historic German town of New Kassel, Missouri--mixing fudge, giving tours, tracing family trees, and even investigating murder... When shop-owner Norah Zumwalt asks Torie for help in piecing together her family lineage to find her missing father, Torie cheerfully agrees. But before Torie delivers her results, Norah is brutally murdered. Now Torie must use her formidable skills at prying into the past--and the human heart--to solve a case of passionate secrets and betrayal. But as the Mississippi floods, she may be in deep trouble when evidence of another killing surfaces--and Torie comes face to face with a family skeleton that will chill her to the bone.

Torie O'Shea investigates the tangled roots of an ancient family tree. Torie O'Shea-- genealogist and amateur sleuth-- is having a killer of a day. The town gossip spreads the word that her sweet wheelchair-bound mother is having an affair--with the sheriff! Then quiet Marie Dijon is found dead at the foot of her basement stairs. Did she fall? Was she pushed? All Torie knows is that Marie had a family tree with royal roots completely foreign to a folksy Middle America town like New Kassel, Missouri. As foreign as, say...murder. But nosiness in New Kassel is as native as the upcoming Oktoberfest. To Torie, the open door to Marie's house is more tempting than chocolate. Finding a hidden key and old documents in French make further investigating irresistible. But while juggling her growing suspicions, a hectic job at the historical society, two kids, and a sexy husband, Torie overlooks the obvious. Curiosity killed the cat. Someone killed Marie Dijon. And now Torie might know too much to live...

A Comedy of Heirs is a creative and delightful entry in Rett MacPherson's popular Torie O'Shea mystery series Amidst planning for Christmas and the annual family reunion, Torie O'Shea barely has time to indulge in her hobby, genealogical research. But preparing for the reunion--and the influx of relatives--piques her curiosity about her own family tree. When Torie discovers that her own great-grandfather was murdered, and that her great-uncle was the main suspect, she never dreams that the past history she thought was long-buried could resurface in the present in such a deadly way.

After the recent birth of her third child, Missouri genealogist Torie O'Shea is itching to get back to work. When she's approached to research and write a book about a recently deceased local woman who attained fame in the thirties and forties as a jazz singer, Torie figures she's found her new project. But her preliminary research turns up a startling piece of the woman's past: her infant son was kidnapped from his cradle in 1938 and never seen again. Back in the present day, the mayor of New Kassell, Bill Castlereagh, is fixing to legalize riverboat gambling in the small historic village, which has Torie and her neighbors up in arms, terrorized by visions of neon lights and dancing girls invading their quaint, picaresque town. Torie knows she has to do something to stop the mayor's plan before it gets started, but she's finding it hard to tear herself away from her research. She just can't stop herself from wondering what happened to that little baby all those years ago. And then a stranger in town turns up dead, throwing the town further into an uproar. Torie's got plenty on her plate, but with her knack for small town politics, expertise in genealogical research, a lot of perseverance, and a little luck, Torie might ferret out the truth behind a bizarre crime from the past with a dangerous reach into the present.

A comical blend of history and homicide, A Misty Mourning is another delightfully witty entry in Rett MacPherson's popular cozy series. This time, genealogist and amateur sleuth Torie O'Shea inherits a murder mystery. A ten-hour car trip with your eighty-year-old grandmother is never much fun, especially if you're seven months pregnant. But when Torie O'Shea's longtime family friend Clarissa Hart Campbell insists that she and Grandma Gert come for a visit at her West Virginia boarding house, they just can't say no to the 101-year-old dynamo. Upon their arrival, Torie and Gert find Clarissa has called together her entire family for the reading of her new will. But everything's happening too fast, even for Clari: the next morning, she's found murdered in bed. The new will stands, and her lawyer follows through on the old woman's wishes to settle an eighty-year-old debt to Torie's great-grandmother: The Panther Run Boarding House now belongs to Torie. Mystified, Torie must put her genealogy skills to work to determine what secrets worth killing for may be hiding in the dilapidated boarding house and the Campbell family story-before it's too late.

In Rett MacPherson's charming cozy mysteries, genealogist Torie O'Shea always seems to be right in the middle of it all in the goings-on in New Kassel, Missouri. When a drought hits the tiny river town and the depth of the mighty Mississippi lowers, Torie is one of the first on the scene to see what the water has revealed: the decades-old wreckage of a riverboat. Soon, the rumors that surrounded its sinking have resurfaced as well and are swirling all over town, most notably about the existence of a cache of diamonds thought to be on board that was never recovered. Before long, a trove of treasure seekers flocks to town, and inevitably, tragedy strikes amid the feverish competition of the treasure hunt. Meanwhile, Torie is staggered by another discovery---the existence of a half sister she never knew she had. Shocked and surprised, she looks around for a distraction, and decides to dig into what really caused the wreck, as well as the location of the missing diamonds. All in all, the combination of personal intrigue and cold-blooded murder makes Blood Relations a sparkling addition to a terrific mystery series.

When genealogist Torie O'Shea returns home to New Kassell, Missouri, from a vacation in Minnesota, she finds two surprises: first, her mother-in-law is coming to town, and second, her mentor and boss, Sylvia, has finally passed away at the age of 102. Grief-stricken and further distressed by her mother-in-law's unannounced visit, Torie is dumbstruck when she learns that Sylvia has left all of her worldly possessions to Torie including the Gaheimer House, which houses the local historical society. With gigantic boxes of artifacts and paperwork dating back to the 1920's to sort through, Torie is quite overwhelmed. But cleaning out Sylvia's things, she finds something strange: an old postcard from the late twenties, addressed to Sylvia, with a photograph of a little girl on the front and an ominous message on the back. Torie quickly becomes determined to uncover the truth behind the mysterious photograph. Who is the little girl? And where was the photograph taken? Unable to make sense of her discovery, Torie's suspicions deepen when she learns that Sylvia hired a private detective and installed a security system just prior to her death. Was Sylvia's death natural or intentional? As Torie resolves to find out the truth, she learns that some of the people in her town are not necessarily what they seem to be, and it becomes clear that somebody wants her silenced. Filled with the intricate stories and engaging characters that have come to characterize her mysteries, once again, Rett MacPherson delivers a fascinating story that promises to delight fans and newcomers alike.

"Indefatigable Torie may irk her men, but her exploits do keep you amused." - Kirkus Reviews Torie O'Shea has her hands full. Aside from her new duties as president of the Historical Society in New Kassel, Missouri, and her interest in genealogy, she's having a new house built, coordinating the town's Oktoberfest, and coping with her teenage daughter, who's beginning to date. Then at the request of a local journalist, Torie takes on an assignment to research the families of her hometown's two mayoral candidates: incumbent Bill Castlereagh and his challenger, Sheriff Colin Brooke, who happens to be Torie's step-father. Before she can get anywhere on the politicians' genealogies, though, a body turns up and spoils the Oktoberfest parade. Sheriff Brooke discovers some disturbing information about the dead man. Meanwhile, Torie's research into Castlereagh's genealogy is turning up more questions than answers. As the case unravels, the mayor flees town and Torie is left with a shocking discovery that might lead to her own demise. Once again, Rett MacPherson's charming characters and twisting plot keep the town of New Kassel—and the reader—on edge, making Dead Man Running a delightful addition to the Torie O'Shea series.

Genealogist and mother of three Torie O'Shea is out birding on the cliffs of the Mississippi River as part of New Kassell, Missouri's first ever bird-watching Olympics, when someone starts shooting at her and her partner. Disoriented and running for their lives, they stumble over an antique trunk and discover a badly beaten dead body stuffed inside. Soon after this disturbing event, musicologist Glen Morgan shows up at the Kendall House, Torie's new textile museum, claiming to be Torie's cousin and to have proof that Torie's grandfather secretly may have written a number of popular songs for the Morgan Family Players, who were famous country music singers. Being a genealogist and the head of the local historical society, Torie doesn't appreciate anyone shaking up a family tree that she has spent years putting together, but Glen's old recordings are more than she can resist. After a little digging in the library and some serious snooping into the shooting, Torie starts to uncover secrets about her family and the town that even she didn't know. Rett MacPherson's intricate plots and delightful small-town characters with long family histories hit all of the right notes in The Blood Ballad, the newest installment in her terrific Torie O'Shea series.

With the Garden Club's First Annual Rose Show right around the corner and a historic house up for sale, Torie O'Shea, mother of three and president of the historical society in New Kassel, Missouri, has her hands full. Nosy by nature, Torie can't help but poke around the old Kendall house, rumored to contain rare Civil War artifacts and even rarer quilts that would make fantastic additions to the historic Gaheimer House that Torie runs. But why stop there when the house itself would make such a wonderful addition to New Kassel's historical homes? It could even become a textile museum. Sadly, the house's history is as tragic as it is rich: In the 1920s, three twenty-something siblings committed suicide, and the more Torie uncovers, the more involved she becomes. Her curiosity draws her into some dark places, but it's a present-day crime that sends her racing to unravel exactly what happened to those three siblings before anyone turns up dead. The brilliant patchwork of characters and tightly stitched plots in Rett MacPherson's Died in the Wool will delight fans of this terrific series and win over new ones.